The Dark Knight Rises
by McIntyre58
Summary: I really didn't enjoy The Dark Knight Rises, and I feel like it could have been much better. I enjoy writing my own versions of movies, so I figured I'd apply that to this film. Whether or not it's better than the original is up to you, though.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: Hello, everyone! So, this will be the first chapter of my version of The Dark Knight Rises. Now, The Dark Knight Rises isn't the worst movie ever made or anything, but I really don't enjoy it. I find it overlong, stupid, with simultaneously too many plot points that are rushed and too many that are slow, and even more things that are flat-out pointless. So, while I may not be some story-telling genius, I do have some ideas that I wanted to share, and that's lead us to where we are now. So, hopefully you enjoy!**_

* * *

"...I knew Harvey Dent. I was his friend."

Gotham City's Police Commissioner James Gordon spoke the words, but couldn't make himself believe them. But here, now, at Harvey's funeral, with giant pictures of him surrounding the podium he stood at, flags waving solemnly in the wind, and hundreds of grieving, devastated Gotham citizens watching, he knew he had to pretend to. For the sake of all that he had lost, and all that he and his friend had sacrificed, he fought the urge to tell the truth.

"And it will be a very long time before someone inspires us the way he did." Gordon finished. "I believed in Harvey Dent."

Gordon grabbed the paper that his speech was written on and walked away from the podium quickly, sitting in one of the seats behind it. He hoped that people would mistake his shame for the grief of a lost friend.

* * *

 **8 YEARS LATER**

* * *

A blue van sped across a South American wheat field, crushing plants underneath its tires as it headed towards a private airfield. It was silent inside of the van, with one of the three Eastern European militia men inside driving, while the others watched the three men in the back, holding rifles. The three had hoods over their faces and their hands bound behind their backs, while the only other passenger was Dr. Leonid Pavel, who was the real cargo for their destination.

A small, black plane was waiting at the airfield, with a small team of CIA operatives standing around it, watching all directions for any problems that might appear. Their presence was unknown to the locals, and both parties preferred it that way. Agent Gillen, the leader of the team, smiled when he saw the van come into view, glad that the mission seemed to be going off without a hitch.

"Dr. Pavel, I'm CIA." The leader of the team, Agent Gillen, greeted the Russian doctor as he and the driver exited the van and approached him. He handed the driver a silver briefcase, which was full of the CIA's compensation for bringing Pavel to them.

"He wasn't alone." The driver said.

"You don't get to bring friends." Gillen joked, gesturing to one of his men.

"They are not my friends." Pavel replied, while the soldier helped him up into the plane.

"Don't worry, no charge for them." The driver continued, while the other two militia men brought the three hooded men out from the back of the van, putting them in a kneeling line in the dirt.

"And why would I want them?" Gillen asked.

"They were trying to grab your prize." The driver answered, with the hint of a knowing smile. "They work for the mercenary. The masked man."

The description caused something to click in Gillen's head. Something that was too intriguing to pass up. "Bane?" He asked.

"Aye." The driver nodded.

"Get ready for take-off, I have to call something in." Gillen called to his men, pulling out a gun from his hip. "Just give me a couple more minutes." He walked past the driver towards the hooded men, pressing his gun against the head of the first one in the line.

"The new flight plan I'm going to file with the agency lists me, my men, Dr. Pavel, but only one of you." Gillen said, clicking the hammer back on his pistol. "So, the first one to talk gets a lovely airplane ride, and the ones who don't will get thrown out mid-trip!"

None of the hooded men said anything.

"Who paid you to grab Dr. Pavel?" Gillen asked the first man. When he didn't answer, Gillen fired his gun right next to the man's head. "Next bullet goes a few inches over."

He was once again met with silence.

Gillen rolled his eyes and gestured to his men. Two of them approached them, beating the hooded man down until he didn't move.

"Throw him in the back of the plane. We'll see how well he flies." Gillen ordered, watching his men drag the hooded man towards the jet.

"Now, who's next?" Gillen said loudly, trying to intimidate the hooded men. He pressed his gun against the head of the second man in the line. "Tell me about Bane!" He demanded, putting on a more angry tone. "Why does he wear the mask?"

The man stayed silent, irritating the CIA agent more.

"A lot of loyalty for a hired gun." Gillen commented.

"Perhaps he's holding his tongue," the last man in the line said, his voice muffled, but sounding robotic, metallic, and louder than a normal voice would be, "because he knows that the consequences of giving away that information would be far worse than anything you can do."

Gillen stepped away from the second man and moved towards the last, glad to at least have made slight progress. "At least you can talk." He said. "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who we are." The man replied, keeping his head bowed. "What matters is our plan."

The militia men who had been inside of the van slowly moved backwards, with nervous looks on their faces. The CIA men had started to get the same looks, and were tightening their grips on their weapons, while Gillen's bravado turned to curiosity. The CIA agent slowly knelt in front of the large, muscular man, reaching out hesitantly to grab the hood over the man's head. Gillen slowly lifted the hood off of the man's head, being greeted by a black and silver, skull-like mask that was attached around the man's head, explaining his metallic voice. The man stared with piercing eyes at Gillen, currently narrowed in anger. The masked mercenary who Gillen had heard so much about had finally been found.

"Nobody cared who I was till I put on the mask." Bane growled.

Gillen stood back up, looking down at the man who had starred in so many stories of atrocities and oppression, bound and caught before him. Caught with no effort. Gillen didn't pause to consider what that could mean.

"Get him on the plane, now!" He ordered to his men, his curiosity turning to excitement.

Bane was pulled to his feet and dragged away roughly, but not before he shared a look with the driver, which went unnoticed by the CIA men.

* * *

The plane had taken off and was now moving steadily through the air, flying by a range of mountains and passing over yet another valley covered in trees and rocks. Inside, Dr. Pavel had taken one of the plane's seats, and Bane's presence was making him visibly scared. Bane had been forced into a kneeling position in the middle of the plane's aisle, surrounded by the now extremely attentive soldiers.

"So, if I took that off," Gillen asked, kneeling in front of Bane, "what would happen?"

"It would be extremely painful." Bane answered, his dark voice overpowering the rumbling of the plane's engines.

"You're a big guy." Gillen replied.

"For you." Bane added, and no-one on the plane doubted him, even in his position.

"Was getting caught part of your plan?" Gillen asked mockingly.

"Of course." Bane answered, with a small laugh in his voice.

* * *

Outside, the small plane that they were all riding in was being approached by a considerably larger, white jet.

* * *

"Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favour of yours." Bane explained "We had to find out what he told you-"

"Nothing!" Pavel yelled, panicked. "I said nothing!"

Bane just slowly turned his head, looking at the doctor in the seats ahead of him, the shallow metallic breathing noise making everyone around him more and more unsettled.

* * *

The large jet had passed over the CIA plane, and was staying level just ahead of it. At its aft, the loading ramp slowly began to descend.

* * *

The noise of the jet was starting to become noticeable, the pilots and soldiers inside the CIA plane hearing a metallic groaning coming from above them. They had no idea what it could be, since they thought their mission was completely secret.

"Well, congratulations! You got yourself caught!" Gillen laughed, too focused on Bane to notice the noise.

"Sir?" One of the soldiers asked, starting to wonder if the noise was a problem.

"Now, what's the next step of your master plan?" Gillen asked, ignoring him.

"Crashing this plane..." Bane answered.

* * *

An armed team of four, black body armour-clad soldiers jumped out of the jet's back, slowly falling through the air, towards the CIA plane, attached to cables. They shifted in the air, pushing themselves towards the black plane.

* * *

"...with no survivors." Bane finished, standing up to tower over Gillen, and pulling his arms apart, snapping the bindings in two.

Before the CIA soldiers could react, the sound of gunfire filled the small plane, as the black-clad soldiers fired from the outside of the plane, killing one of the soldiers. Bane lunged forward, punching Gillen in the throat, which caused the agent to fall back, holding his neck in pain. The soldiers on the outside of the plane attached the thick cables they were holding into the plane's body, and exchanged masked nods with each other, letting themselves fly backwards, into the air. Once the cables went taut, the force of the jet, with the assistance of the cables, slowly caused the plane to turn to face downwards. Inside the plane, the sudden change in direction sent Gillen and the soldiers flying down to slam against the door leading to the cockpit.

"Mayday! Mayday!" The pilot's yelled, but no help was available.

Bane managed to grab the edge of the seats before he fell, leaving him hanging over the disabled CIA men, and he slowly let himself fall down, grabbing seats as he went, moving towards Pavel.

Outside, the team of soldiers attached charges around the tail of the plane, and one of them clicked the detonator, causing the charges to blow and the tail to fly off and away, leaving a large hole in the back of the plane. The soldiers slowly came back through the air towards it, climbing inside.

Bane quickly moved between one of the seats as the last conscious CIA soldier managed to pull out his pistol and fire at him. Before he could fire more than two, a burst of gunfire killed him, as Bane's soldiers descended inside of the plane, along with a large black body bag. Bane and his men quickly opened the bag, revealing a man that slightly resembled Pavel. Bane grabbed the doctor as he pulled a long, clear tube out of the bag, sticking a small needle into Pavel's arm.

"Let me go! Please!" Pavel pleaded.

Bane ignored him, aided by the deafening noise of the wind blowing around them, watching as his men pumped the chest of the dead man, and Pavel's blood slowly flowed into the tube, and into the corpse. Bane then pulled out a large red harness, attaching it around Pavel's body, locking it in place. The last of the soldiers started to ensure that his harness was ready for their escape, but Bane put a hand on his shoulder.

"No!" Bane said. "They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother."

The soldier pulled off his mask and helmet, looking up at Bane with admiration. "Have we started the fire?' He asked with a smile.

"Yes, the fire rises." Bane answered, pulling himself back over to Pavel. Below him, the soldier had begun to detach his harness and pull off his flight uniform, ready to die for his cause without hesitation. Bane was always grateful for this trait, even if it was essential for his men. He then reached down and pulled the screaming Pavel to him, holding him tight.

"Calm down, doctor." Bane admonished. "Now is not the time for fear."

Pavel stopped his yelling, but held Bane as tightly as he could when the masked man pulled out a small switch.

"That comes later." Bane added, clicking the switch. The plane dropped out from around them, plummeting towards the ground, where it would no doubt be found by the CIA, and quickly. But that was also part of Bane's plan, and they would find only what he wanted them to. Now the first part of his plan was complete.

Bane and the doctor were pulled slowly up to the jet as it flew forwards, now free of any suspicion.

Towards Gotham City.

* * *

Night had fallen over Gotham, and where that had once been a time of danger and fear, and then one of hope, it was now at peace.

"Harvey Dent Day may not be our oldest public holiday, but we're here tonight because it's one of the most important."

Mayor Anthony Garcia gave his annual speech at its annual location, in front of Wayne Manor. Bruce Wayne offered up his home as a venue for all of Gotham who wished to attend, though usually only the wealthy and powerful managed to get in. In the past, Wayne had been out and about during the parties, but over the past couple of years, he had slowly slipped away into reclusion. Garcia was surrounded by flower wreaths and pictures of Dent, all of them showing the same smiling, reassuring face that Gotham had once looked up to.

"Harvey Dent's uncompromising stand against organized crime had made Gotham a safer place than it was at the time of his death, eight years ago." Garcia went on. "This city has seen a historic turnaround. No city is without crime, but this city is without organized crime since the Dent Act gave law enforcement teeth in its fight against the mob."

The event attendants nodded in agreement, all of them knowing that the city's current, almost unknown lack of criminal activity was a result of the Act. While they were listening politely, some were also distracted by the trays of food being walked by Wayne servants.

"Now, people are talking about repealing the Dent Act, and I say, "Not on my watch."" Garcia said, smiling at the smattering of applause he received. "I want to thank the Wayne Foundation for hosting this event again. I'm told Mr. Wayne couldn't be here tonight, though I'm sure he's with us in spirit. And now, I'm going to give way to an important voice..."

* * *

Commissioner Gordon was looking over the speech he had written, the mayor's words being drowned out underneath his internal debate of whether he should read it or not.

"You ever lay eyes on Wayne at one of these things anymore?" Congressman Gilly asked Gordon, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"No one has. Not for the last couple of years." Deputy Commissioner Foley answered, standing a couple of feet away, facing the mayor.

* * *

"...people put their faith in a murderous thug in a mask and cape." The mayor was saying.

Above him, on the roof of Wayne Manor, a figure shrouded in darkness watched over the party, listening carefully to the mayor's words.

"A thug who showed his true nature when he betrayed the trust of this great man..." Garcia continued, gesturing to one of the portraits of Harvey. "...and murdered him in cold blood."

* * *

"Hey, hey." Gilly said, lightly grabbing the arm of one of the maids, a pretty, young brunette carrying a tray of seafood. "Not so fast with the chow, sweetheart."

"Shrimp balls?" The servant asked, holding up the tray and looking down nervously.

"Thank you." Gilly smiled and winked at her, taking two of the finger food snacks from the tray.

The waitress nodded, walking away more quickly than she had been before, Cullen watching after her.

* * *

"...Jim Gordon can tell you the truth about Harvey Dent." Garcia said. "In fact, I'll let him tell you himself." He gestured over to where Gordon was standing, again examining the papers in his hand. "Commissioner Gordon."

The crowd clapped enthusiastically as Gordon walked up to the podium, shaking hands with the mayor as he stepped aside. Gordon represented the last of the "old guard" that the Gotham citizens had known, and he had been looked to over the last eight years as a figure of leadership, sometimes more than the mayor. But there was no arguing that lately, Gordon had started to seem tired with his job, and that apathy had started to leak into the rest of Gotham.

"The truth?" Gordon mused, looking down at his speech. He looked up at the crowd, but all he saw was a memory.

* * *

 _Gordon held out his arm in panic, pleading and panicking._

 _Harvey Dent, half of his face burned away, the other half twisted in a maniacal grin, holding Gordon's son in one hand and a gun in the other._

* * *

"I have...written a speech..." Gordon said, almost too quietly, even with the podium's microphone. "...telling the truth about Harvey Dent."

* * *

 _Harvey screamed in anger, and Gordon stared into his scarred eye, not even recognizing his friend anymore._

* * *

Gordon looked into the faces of everyone who, just like him, had believed in Harvey. And, in that moment, he knew he couldn't destroy that belief.

"Maybe the time isn't right." Gordon decided, tucking the papers into his coat. "Maybe right now..." He said, trying to pick a new topic, "...all you need to know is that there are one thousand inmates in Blackgate Prison as a direct result of the Dent Act. These are violent criminals, essential cogs in the organized-crime machine. Maybe, for now, all I should say about the death of Harvey Dent is this..." Gordon trailed off, trying to justify the words he was saying, no matter how strong the urge to speak the truth was.

"...it has not been not for nothing." Gordon finished, nodding nervously.

On top of Wayne Manor's roof, the silhouetted figure walked away, disappearing from view as the audience applauded again.

* * *

"You see the guy who owns the house?" One of the kitchen maids asked her co-worker.

"No, I heard he never leaves the east wing." The second maid answered, as the brunette maid who had given the congressman his shrimp balls, Selina, walked near them, placing more food onto her platter.

"I heard he had an accident." One of the maids said, adding the brunette to the conversation.

"Yeah, that he's disfigured. He has to wear a-"

"Mr. Till?" The aged British accent cut through the theorizing, and every member of the kitchen staff turned to face Alfred Pennyworth, who was overseeing all of the night's festivities. "Why are your people using the main staircase?" Alfred asked, gesturing at the mads with the key in his hand.

Mr. Till looked around nervously, with no answer.

"And where's Mrs. Bolton?" Alfred continued.

The kitchen staff responded immediately, moving in all directions, looking around for the missing guest.

"She's at the bar, sir." Selina said, walking across the kitchen. "Can I help?"

"The east drawing room." Alfred instructed, handing her the key. "Unlock the door, put the tray on the table, lock the door again. Nothing more."

* * *

Selina walked alone through the empty halls, her footsteps echoing on the stairs, the enormous tray of food in her hand.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Mr. Daggett. I tried, but he won't see you." Alfred explained to the Wayne Enterprises board member standing before him.

"I suppose I shouldn't take it personally." Daggett shrugged. "I mean, everyone knows that Wayne's holed up in there with 8-inch nails, peeing in Mason jars." He let out a small chuckle to let Alfred know he was joking, but got no reaction from the butler.

* * *

Selina entered the east drawing room slowly, looking around for any sign of the elusive owner of the house. She walked across the marble floor, still scanning over the ornate wall decorations. She set the tray down on a large, round, wooden table, but before she followed the third step Alfred had given her, she noticed door across the room, which was slightly ajar. It was then that she decided to ignore the third step.

* * *

"I just feel like I'm wasting my time." Daggett shrugged. "I mean, I should be furious with him, but I just want to...I don't know, figure this whole situation out, you know? It's extremely important."

"I do wish I could help you, Mr. Daggett." Alfred replied. "But he's been...disagreeable lately, as you know."

* * *

"Second shift reports in?" Gordon asked Foley, trying to avoid any conversations from party guests.

"You should spend some more time with the mayor." Foley suggested, chuckling.

"Well, that's your department." Gordon smiled, patting Foley's arm with a smile, and walking away into the crowd. He was happy to leave the party now that his part was done, as he had done consistently for the past few years.

Foley nodded curtly, but his friendly face turned to annoyance when the Commissioner was out of view.

"Anyone showed him the crime stats?" Congressman Gilly asked him.

"He goes by his gut and it bothers him, no matter what the numbers." Foley answered.

"Must be popular with his wife." Gilly noted.

"Not really." Foley shrugged. "She took the kids and left for Cleveland."

"He'll have plenty of time for visits." Gilly said. "The mayor's going to dump him in the spring."

"Really?" Foley asked, surprised.

"Mmm-hmm." Gilly answered, taking a drink.

"But he's a hero." Foley said, trying to figure out the mayor's reasoning.

"A war hero." Gilly corrected. "This is peacetime."

* * *

Selina had entered the other room, which was just as large and spacious as the last, with almost all of the furniture and decorations removed or covered in plastic sheets. She slowly approached a wooden table, picking up a framed picture of a couple smiling. It had been torn in two and burned around the edges, but someone had taken a lot of time to preserve it. She set it down next to a picture of a young, pretty brunette woman smiling up at the sky. Selina thought she recognized the woman, but couldn't place exactly where from, most likely some sort of political or law enforcement job.

* * *

In the room where she had left the tray of food, a robed figure slowly slinked out of the shadows. The figure lifted the tray's lid, but paused when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the room ahead, past the open door.

* * *

Selina slowly walked towards a target practice sheet had been hung in front of a large wooden dresser, with what seemed like hundreds of puncture marks in it, as well as a few arrows still stuck in the wood. Just as she slowly reached up to touch one of the arrows, another one slammed into the wood, inches away from her face.

Selina screamed and recoiled away from the sheet, slapping a hand to her mouth as she turned in the direction that the arrow had come from. She saw, standing there, slowly lowering a bow, Bruce Wayne, though more bearded and tired-looking than the last time he had been seen in public.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so terribly sorry, Mr. Wayne." She said, her voice a quiet, fearful whisper.

Bruce didn't answer, leaning the bow against a dresser and slowly walking towards her. As he moved, he had a slight limp, only adding to the look of tiredness he had.

"It is Mr. Wayne, isn't it?" Selina asked, now with a nervous smile. "I mean, you don't have the long nails, or the...the facial scars, sir..." She trailed off awkwardly, her smile fading away as she looked at the ground.

"Is that what they say about me?" Bruce asked.

"It's just that...no-one ever sees you." Selina answered, shrugging.

Bruce nodded, stopping. "That's a beautiful necklace." He noted, staring at the string of pearls around her neck.

Selina's nervous look didn't fade away.

"It reminds me of one that belonged to my mother." Bruce went on, walking towards the table that Selina had been near a few moments before. "But it couldn't be the same one, because her pearls were in a safe." As he spoke, he opened the doors underneath the table, revealing the door of a small metal safe.

"Which the manufacturer clearly explained is uncrackable." Bruce finished, slightly moving the safe's door, which slid open freely.

Selina, realizing she had been caught, let go of the nervous, meek act, and set herself in her default mode. The unassuming waitress disappeared under a sly smile, playful eyes, which rose to meet his, now exuding confidence.

"Oops." She smirked. "Nobody told me it was uncrackable."

"I'm afraid I can't let you take those." Bruce smiled, but there was an underlying threat to his words.

"Look," Selina said, walking towards him "You wouldn't beat up a woman, any more than I'd beat up a cripple, so-" Before Bruce could react, Selina delivered a sharp kick to what she had assessed as his hurt leg, adding a punch to his stomach.

Bruce let out a weak groan and toppled to the floor, letting out a loud thud.

"Of course, sometimes exceptions have to be made." Selina added, walking away from him and towards one of the room's large windows. She pulled it open, crawling on top of the ledge and squatted, still facing Bruce.

Bruce looked up, seeming confused that she had gotten the drop on him.

"Goodnight, Mr. Wayne." Selina said, before flipping backwards off of the window, falling out of sight.

Bruce pulled himself to his feet, but didn't go after her. He just stopped, processing what had happened.

* * *

Selina walked quickly away from Wayne Manor, seeing that the party was starting to die down. She pulled the white accessorizing pieces from her clothes, removing the look of a waitress and leaving a plain black dress. She tossed them to the ground, smiling when she saw Congressman Gilly's car, which was doubling as an unwitting getaway vehicle. Her plan had gone exactly as she had meant it to. Cullen looked surprised when she sat next to him, but it faded away to a smile when his bodyguard closed the door behind her.

"Can I have a ride?" Selina asked, putting a sultry layer over her words, knowing that she already had him.

"You read my mind." Gilly, already a little tipsy, tapped the glass partition in front of them. "Let's go."

Selina's fake smile remained, but for a reason the Congressman had no idea about. As much as she wished it could be this easy, she wasn't done yet.

* * *

"Mr. Daggett was asking for you again." Alfred told Bruce, as he approached him.

Bruce was kneeling, looking inside of the safe. "He's very persistent." Bruce replied, trying to remember the phone number of the manufacturer.

"But you've come to expect that at this point." Alfred said. "What are you doing?"

"We've been robbed." Bruce answered.

"And this is your idea of sounding the alarm, is it?" Alfred smiled.

"She took the pearls, tracking device and all." Bruce added.

"She?" Alfred asked.

"One of the maids." Bruce clarified. "Perhaps you should stop letting them in this side of the house."

"Perhaps you should start learning to make your own bed." Alfred replied.

Bruce nodded, but didn't answer, and started to slowly walk out of the room. He had already dusted some of the prints on the safe, but to properly analyze them, he would have to return to a section of the house that he hadn't been to in a very long time.

* * *

 _ **AN: So guys, that's the beginning of my version of The Dark Knight Rises. As you can see, not too many changes, but in future chapters you'll see many more, I promise. For now, hopefully you like what you've read, and hopefully you'll want to read some more.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Officer John Blake walked to the roof of the Major Crimes Unit, seeing the man that he knew would be there. He, like many others, didn't like to come up here when Gordon went, as it was now more of a somber location. Blake saw Gordon, sitting against the air duct reading a stack of files, with the now rusty, broken searchlight next to him, and couldn't help but wonder what it had looked like here, eight years ago. But those days were long gone.

"Sir?" He asked.

Gordon looked up from the files, and in doing so looked right into the broken light. He paused for a moment before turning to Blake.

"I didn't want to bother you up here, but they're looking for you." Blake added.

"What's the problem, son?" Gordon asked, setting down the file he was reading from on top of the pile.

"Congressman Gilly's wife's been calling." Blake answered. "He hasn't made it home from the Wayne Foundation event."

"That's a job for the police." Gordon joked.

"Sir, I've been a cop for a year and I've only logged half a dozen arrests. When you and Dent cleaned the streets you cleaned them good." Blake replied. "Pretty soon we'll be chasing overdue library books."

Gordon smiled, picking up the files.

"But here you are." Blake went on, gesturing at the files. "Like we're still at war..."

"Old habits." Gordon shrugged.

"Or instinct." Blake suggested.

Gordon looked surprised. "What's your name, son?" He asked, now curious.

"Blake, sir."

"Do you have something you want to ask me, Officer Blake?"

"It's that night." Blake answered. "This night, eight years ago. The night Dent died."

"What about it?" Gordon asked.

"The last confirmed sighting of the Batman." Blake continued. "I mean, he murders those people, takes out two SWAT teams, breaks Dent's neck...then just vanishes? We spend a few years chasing him down, following leads, reports, but eventually those just faded away, and there was...nothing."

"I'm not hearing a question, son." Gordon said.

Blake shifted uneasily. "Don't you want to know who he was?" He finally asked.

Gordon chuckled, turning to look at the broken searchlight. He slowly ran his hand down the exterior, remembering the days when it had lit up the sky every night.

"I know exactly who he was." Gordon said, turning back to Blake. "He was the Batman."

Gordon walked past Blake, heading towards the roof's exit. "Let's go see about the congressman's wife." Gordon called back.

Blake stayed on the roof for a few moments, looking back at the broken signal, before following the Commissioner away.

* * *

Morning had come, and as he did every other morning, Alfred carried Bruce's breakfast to his room. However, when he entered to the room, he found the bed empty. Alfred left the room, looking through all sections of the house that he could think of, calling for Bruce, but receiving no answer other than an echo.

Eventually, Alfred realized where he had gone.

Alfred walked back around to the east wing of the manor, setting the tray down on a piano and pressing three keys that he hadn't played in quite a long time. Ahead of him, a bookcase swung open, revealing a secret passageway.

Alfred spent the elevator ride down below the mansion silently, as he had hoped never to have to ride it again. He walked out of the small elevator into the caves, hearing the chittering of bats, and seeing Bruce sitting at the large computer setup he had used back when he had been Batman. Alfred had never liked venturing down into the caves, but he hoped that it was only a temporary problem that Bruce needed to solve. Alfred clicked a switch near one of the large platforms, raising a walkway to connect to the large slate cube where Bruce sat, and the butler approached him.

"You haven't been down here in a long time." Alfred noted.

"Just trying to find out more about our jewel thief." Bruce replied. "I ran her prints from the photos she handled, and unless she's lost a lot of weight..."

Wayne clicked a few keys, and the mug shot of a fat, male armed-robbery suspect named Nikolai Ondrejko appeared, along with his police file and information.

"...she was wearing someone else's prints." Bruce finished. "She's good."

"She may be, but we have the tracer on the necklace." Alfred pointed out.

"We do." Bruce nodded. "So, I cross-referenced the address she went back to with police data on high-end B-and-E's, and..."

Bruce hit a key, and a photo of the maid appeared on the screen.

"...Selina Kyle." Bruce explained. "The databases are full of close calls, tips from fences..."

Newspaper headlines started to appear on the various screens, _"THE CAT STRIKES AGAIN", "POLICE SUSPECT 'CAT' BURGLAR IN JEWEL HEIST"._

"She's good, but the ground is shrinking beneath her feet." Bruce added.

"We should send the police before she fences the pearls." Alfred suggested.

"She might not." Bruce replied. "She seems to likes them. Although, she usually doesn't infiltrate places in disguise."

"Maybe you should exchange notes over coffee." Alfred joked.

"You're trying to set me up with a jewel thief?" Bruce asked in disbelief.

"At this point, sir, I would set you up with a chimpanzee if I thought it would bring you back into the world." Alfred replied.

"There's nothing out there for me." Bruce said.

"And that's the problem." Alfred said. "You hung up the cape and cowl, but never moved on. You won't get out there and find a life. Find someone-"

"I did find someone, Alfred." Bruce replied bitterly.

"I know. And then you lost them." Alfred said. "That's part of living, sir. But you're not living, you're waiting. Hoping for things to go bad again."

Bruce didn't say anything, and just looked at the ground.

"Remember when you left Gotham? Before all this? Before Batman?" Alfred asked. "Seven years you were gone. Seven years I waited, hoping that you wouldn't come back."

Bruce looked up at Alfred in surprise, not understanding what he meant.

"Every year I took my holiday, and I'd go to Florence." Alfred continued. "There's a café by the Arno, and any fine evening, I would sit there and order a Fernet Branca." Alfred now had a wistful look on his face. "I had a fantasy. I liked to imagine that one day I'd look across the tables, and see you. Sitting there with your wife, perhaps some kids. You wouldn't say anything to me, or me to you, but we'd both know...that you'd made it. That you were happy."

The wistful look turned to one of regret as Alfred looked back down at Bruce. "I never wanted you to come back to Gotham." The old man said. "I always knew that there was nothing there for you but pain and tragedy, and I wanted more for you than that. I still do."

Alfred turned and walked away from Bruce, his footsteps echoing through the cave. Bruce watched hi leave, and eventually turned back to the screens, alone with his bats once again.

* * *

Blake and his partner, Ross, exited their patrol car, and were greeted by the DWP man who had called them there. They had received the call after a body had been found outside one of the catchment basins.

"They wash up a couple times a month. More when it gets colder, from homeless sheltering in the tunnels." The DWP man explained. "We had to pull him to clear the basin, but other than that we didn't touch him."

The three came to basin, where two other DWP men were waiting, along with the body. The body was a teenage boy, young and wearing a few layers of worn-out clothing. Blake looked down at him as they waded through the water, and froze.

"What is it?' Ross asked.

"His name's Jimmy." Blake answered. "He's from St. Swithin's, the boys home where I...I coach some ball."

* * *

Blake exited the car once again, looking up and the run-down, ramshackle building that had once been his home. He walked through the front door, dodging a few young boys who were chasing each other down the stairs, before climbing them towards the main office.

"Jimmy hadn't been here for months." Father Reilly was telling him, sitting in his chair and looking up at his former ward.

"Why?" Blake asked.

"You know why Blake, he aged out." Reilly answered. "We don't have the resources to keep boys on after sixteen."

Blake furrowed his brow. "The Wayne Foundation gives money for that." He said.

"Not for two years now." Reilly corrected.

Blake was surprised. As far as he had known, the Wayne Foundation had been devoted to this place. "He has a brother here, doesn't he?" He asked.

"Mark." Reilly nodded. "I'll tell him."

"I'd like to, if that's okay." Blake replied.

* * *

Blake and Reilly went to the playground outdoors, which was a fenced-in section of a spacious balcony. Blake had found Mark sitting on a bench. When Blake explained what had happened, Mark seemed sad, but was still willing to talk.

"I'm sorry." Blake repeated.

Mark nodded sullenly, etching a symbol into the top of the table with a piece of chalk.

"What was he doing in the tunnels?" Blake asked, trying to get to his original point.

"A lot of guys have been going down the tunnels when they age out." Mark mumbled. "They say you can live down there, that there's work down there."

"What kind of work are you going to find in the sewers?" Blake asked.

"More than you can find up here, I guess." Mark shrugged.

Blake looked over at the symbols Mark was drawing, and recognized them as Batman graffiti art. That symbol had once been prevalent throughout Gotham, but it had been mostly cleaned up over the past eight years. "You know about him." Blake asked.

"Of course." Mark answered looking up from the table and at Blake. "Do you think he's coming back?"

Blake looked at Mark, and saw a lot of himself. He saw hope, and also how his position in the world was keeping it limited. So he answered with what he wished that he'd been told at Mark's age, instead of lies.

"I don't know."

* * *

Selina, now wearing a small black dress, as well as the string of pearls she had stolen, walked through yet another dark alley, towards a nameless dive bar in yet another dank corner of Gotham she hated visiting. She was with a haggard-looking drunk in a Hawaiian shirt, who she pushed through the door ahead of her, before he stumbled towards the stools at the bar. Selina helped him down onto one of the stools, patting his back lightly before walking over to the tables. Waiting for her was Stryver, the man who'd organized the meeting, along with several of his henchmen littered around the room.

"You brought a date?" Stryver asked as she sat down across from him.

"I like having someone around to open doors for me." Selina replied. She looked around, taking in all of the details of the room before continuing. She reached around and unclasped the pearls on her neck, holding them in her hand. Stryver reached out for them, but she held them back. "You didn't tell me there was a tracker on it." She said angrily. "This could bring even more trouble down on me."

Stryver gestured with one hand, and one of his men locked the bar's door. Another one walked over and stood next to Selina. She smiled nervously, looking at the thug out of the corner of her eye, tightening her grip on the blue pearls.

"Tracker or not, we made a deal." Stryver said, as the thug placed a briefcase next to Selina. "So keep your end of it."

"Wayne's probably already found my apartment, so I'll need to get moving, and soon." Selina said. "So, I hope you counted the money you brought very carefully, or I'll be paying your boss a visit."

"I count fine." Stryver replied coolly.

Next to Selina, the thug cocked his gun and pressed it against her head.

"In fact, I'm counting to ten, right now." Stryver finished, smirking. "By the way, I've never seen the Wayne pearls, but I know that they're white, not blue."

"Okay, okay." Selina said nervously. "These aren't the real pearls, my friend has them outside." She reached into her purse, but the thug stopped her, and he reached in instead, pulling out a cell phone.

"Just press send." Selina said, looking down as the thug removed his gun and tucked it away.

Stryver took the phone and clicked the send button, staring at Selina, who wouldn't meet his eyes. There was a knock on the bar's door, and the thug waiting there unlocked and opened it, revealing a short blonde woman. The woman walked cheerfully through the door, not understanding the situation, and over to Selina, handing her the string of white pearls.

"This place is a little dead." The woman commented.

"It'll liven up in a minute, trust me." Selina said tensely, handing Stryver the real pearls.

"Is everything okay?" Jen asked, noticing Selina's nervousness.

"Great. Catch you later." Selina said blankly, not looking at Jen.

Jen got the message, turning away from the table and leaving the bar. Selina handed the real pearls to Stryver, who pulled out a small black device at clicked it onto the string. A small red light appeared on the device, and Stryver smiled.

"That'll take care of the tracker." He said.

"Well, now that we all have what we want-" Selina started.

"Not quite." Stryver interrupted, pulling out a gun and resting it on the table at her. "We can't have loose ends. And, even in that dress, no-one's going to miss you."

"No, but my friend over there." Selina replied, gesturing at the drunk. "Every cop in the city's missing him."

Stryver looked over at the drunk, who was currently drooling into a bowl of nuts, and then up at the muted television above the bar, where the news was showing a picture of the same man, but in a cleaner state, with the Gotham City News banner declaring _"MANHUNT FOR MISSING CONGRESSMAN"_.

"That's cute." Stryver smirked. "But they're not going to be looking for him in a place like this."

"I don't know..." Selina said. "...you did just use his phone."

Stryver smirk disappeared as he glanced down at the phone, and, as if on cue, the sound of tires screeching could be heard from outside. Selina smirked, and as the thug pulled out his gun, she grabbed his arm, twisting it until she heard a snap. Stryver stood up to shoot her, but she whirled back around, grabbing his hand and twisting it upwards, causing the gun to fly up into the air. She caught it, and hit Stryver across the face with its handle, before slamming his head down onto the table.

* * *

Outside the bar, Gotham SWAT officers exited their trucks, lining up next to the door with their weapons ready, preparing to enter.

* * *

Selina saw that Stryver's men were starting to pull out their weapons and race for the exit, but a couple of them were still focused on her. As one of them aimed his gun at her, she flipped Stryver onto his back and rolled over him, pulling him along with her to squat behind the table, using it and his body as cover while she readied her plan.

The rest of Stryver's men were running into the alley and away into the darkness, just trying to avoid capture.

Selina heard the sound of the police's battering ram hitting the door, and she shot the man trying to escape over the bar, causing him to fly backwards into the bottles. She then leaned over the table, shooting the thug who had been aiming at her, and hit Stryver in the face with the gun once again to keep him down. She ducked back down behind the table as another man ran out, pointing his gun at the door.

The door broke open with a loud crunch, and the police, seeing the man pointing the gun at them, opened fire, killing him. Selina had already pulled Stryver off of her, and thrown the gun away, o there was only one step left in her charade: to scream hysterically. Once she started doing this, the police ignored her as a threat, even as she screamed and grabbed at them for "help", as she knew they would.

"It's okay, miss. Just stay down." One of the officers reassured her, before following the other arnoured men.

Selina kept up the screams and pleads until all of the team had moved through the bar and continued into the back alley after the rest of the thugs, where a firefight started to break out. She stopped her screaming after the last SWAT officer was out of sight, watching for a few seconds before she knew she was clear, and stood up. She walked over to Gilly, who was on the ground, clutching at a bullet wound in his leg. "Keep some pressure on that, sweetheart." She advised, adjusting her dress on the broken mirror behind the bar and walking towards the exit.

"Call me?" Gilly said weakly after her.

After Selina walked outside, she looked around, and resumed her weak act as an officer approached her. "There's a man in there, he's bleeding, he needs help-" She started rambling.

"It's okay, miss. It's okay." The officer said reassuringly as he led her away.

* * *

Blake ran into the bar, checking the room with his weapon raised before lowering it, seeing Gilly lying on the floor. He clicked his shoulder radio. "I've got the congressman." He reported.

* * *

Selina got away from the officer, assuring him that she had calmed down, and ran off into the night past the line of police cars.

* * *

Blake heard gunfire and followed it, leading him out into the alley. He ducked behind a van with one of the SWAT officers, as the two remaining thugs kept firing at them. The SWAT officer left the cover to take a shot at the thugs, but he was cut down by a single shot that burst through his body armour, and the sound of a sniper echoed through the alley. The sniper, firing from a balcony above, fired again, and another SWAT officer fell dead to the ground. During this distraction, the two thugs chose to run away. As more and more officers started rushing towards the alley, and more cars started to pull up, the sniper weighed the odds and started to put away his rifle.

* * *

Gordon jumped out of the car, his gun raised, and watched as a team of SWAT officers covered a fire escape. Gordon swept the area with his eyes, seeing no threat or way of escape, until he saw-

"Manhole!" Gordon called. "Get it open!"

A few officers wrenched the cover off of the manhole, dragging it away, while Gordon shined his flashlight down the tunnel.

"You three, down with me." Gordon said, pointing out directions. "You two, head down to cover the next exit. And get the DWP down here, now!"

Gordon and the officer climbed down the tunnel's ladder lowly. Gordon let the SWAT officers take the lead once they reached the ground, and he held his flashlight and gun up, looking for any sign that the men had escaped down here.

* * *

Blake approached Foley, who was leaning over the manhole, shining his flashlight down into it. Blake was about to ask the other officer standing there where Gordon was, but the man knew what he was going to ask, and just gestured at the manhole.

"What, they went down there?" Blake asked in disbelief.

* * *

Gordon and the men moved slowly and quietly through the sewer, the only sound from around them the occasional click of their footsteps. They didn't realize that one of the pairs of feet didn't belong to them until a man, still in the shadows, leaned around a corner and fired two bullets into one of the SWAT officers, causing him to fall to the ground. Gordon and the other two officers whirled around and started to return fire, and Gordon ducked behind a pillar. Before the police could react, a huge explosion erupted in the sewer, sending the SWAT officers flying.

* * *

Outside, just as the police were starting to move away from the manhole, a huge burst of fire erupted from it, before disappearing back down into the sewer.

* * *

Gordon was still reeling and breathing heavily from the explosion, but he recovered as quickly as he could, leaning around the corner and moving his flashlight. He could see nothing, apart from the SWAT officers' bodies littered around the ground. He started to walk down another path in the tunnel, but a man leapt out from behind him, slamming his gun down on Gordon's head and knocking the Commissioner to the ground.

* * *

Smoke was still steadily coming out of the manhole, and now every officer around it was holding their flashlights down, looking for the source.

"We're going down there, right?" Blake asked.

"It was a gas explosion, kid." One of the officers replied.

"Gas? This is a sewer." Blake said.

"No-one goes down there until we know what's down there!" Foley called out.

"We know what's down there, sir." Blake said. "The police commissioner."

"Can someone get this guy out of here?" Foley asked, walking past Blake and holstering his gun. "And where's that DWP guy?"

Blake shook his head, walking away from the manhole, before a memory from earlier in the day hit him.

" _What kind of work are you going to find in the sewers?"_

" _More than you can find up here, I guess."_

Blake realized that there was something that he could do, and started running away from the scene, down past the long line of police cars. Towards the outflow where they had found Jimmy.

* * *

Gordon was dragged by his shoulders down the twisted labyrinth of the tunnels by two men, trying to make out his surroundings through his fuzzy vision. He managed to make out what looked like a group of teenage boys staring after him, as well as some more armed soldiers, and several men working on some kind of construction, with the sound of drills and hammers filling the air.

Eventually, the two men dropped Gordon on the ground in an opening that had been turned into a makeshift room, bathed in blue LED lights. They both stood silently as soldiers watched them, and a man walked behind them, dropping a sniper rifle next to a large grey container. An enormous, muscular man was kneeling near the bed, his scarred back facing them with the low, shallow sound of metallic breathing.

"Why are you here?" Bane asked.

One of the men kicked the weak Commissioner. "Answer him." He yelled. The only response Gordon gave was a weak groan.

"I was asking you." The robotic voice went on.

"It's the police commissioner." The man explained, while his partner stood frozen in fear.

Bane slowly stood and walked towards them. "And you brought him down here?" He asked.

"We didn't know what to do." The man started. "We just thought-"

"You panicked." Bane cut him off, staring at the silent man, who refused to meet his gaze. "And your weakness cost the lives of others."

"No, he didn't -" The other man started, but was interrupted by Bane grabbing his throat. With a slight movement, Bane crushed his throat, letting his body drop to the ground, the man still choking.

"Search him." Bane ordered the silent man. "Then I will kill you."

The other man knelt down, looking through Gordon's pockets, finding nothing until he pulled out a few papers, which Gordon had forgotten to remove from the night before. The man handed Bane the papers and Gordon's gun, and Bane slowly walked away from him, suddenly very interested in what the commissioner had written.

"Take him away." Bane ordered, and two soldiers pulled Gordon to his knees, dragging him away from the room.

The silent man had started to get up, but Bane held out a hand, stopping him. The sniper handed Bane a small electronic tracker, which Bane tucked into the man's jacket. Before the man could say anything, Bane fired a bullet into the man's chest. The man fell back, rolling over the edge of the platform and into the running water, which carried him away, out of Bane's sight.

"Track him, and make sure he isn't found." Bane ordered the sniper. "Then brick up the south tunnel."

The sniper nodded, looking at the outflow with a scared expression.

"This is wonderfully written." Bane went on. "The people of Gotham should know this as well."

"What do you need?" The sniper asked.

"For now, a camera." Bane answered. A new opportunity had just sprung up, and he would be foolish not to take advantage of it.

* * *

Blake ran up into the same catchment grille as before, seeing that a body was stuck in the metal fencing. He pulled the corpse out, not recognizing the man, but saw the device stuck in his jacket. Blake took it out and threw it away, radioing the paramedics to come pick up the body. Hopefully two bodies in the same location, on the same day, was enough evidence for him to convince Foley to investigate this further.

The only thing Blake was worried about was where Gordon had ended up.


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: Hey guys, so I've been getting a lot of reviews and feedback from people saying that there's been no changes to the overall story of The Dark Knight Rises, but I promise they're coming. I have the entire story mapped out already, it just takes a little while after the opening for the big changes and new story elements to appear. I'm keeping the same basic story from the original, this is just me changing the story that we have to what I would have liked more, not a completely original story, because there are some things in the original that are legitimately good. Hopefully those who are disappointed so far will bear with this story and enjoy where it goes. But, if they don't, then that's up to them.**_

* * *

The sound of knocking the next morning surprised Alfred, as people rarely appeared at the manor unexpected. Alfred opened the large wooden doors to reveal Blake, whose uniform was now dirty and looking worn out.

"I need to see Bruce Wayne." Blake said urgently.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne doesn't take unscheduled calls." Alfred replied. "Even from police officers."

"And if I go get a warrant, for the investigation of Harvey Dent's murder? Would that still count as unscheduled?" Blake asked.

Alfred had been about to close the door, but he just stared at Blake for a moment, contemplating how to react. He chose to remain calm, because he knew that Bruce could handle the situation better than him if it got out of hand.

* * *

Blake sat in Bruce Wayne's study, which was something that he never imagined doing. It was filled with the usual rich family paraphernalia, maps, globes, foreign masks, relics and souvenirs, all of which looked ancient and unused. He was nervous, as what he had told Alfred would no doubt raise some flags in the manor, but in the current situation, he didn't know who else he could possibly talk to.

"What can I do for you, officer?" Bruce asked, hobbling onto the room behind him, sounding uninterested.

"Commissioner Gordon's missing." Blake replied.

Bruce had continued to pace through the study, but paused, looking back at Blake.

"He chased some gunmen down into the sewers." Blake continued. "There was an explosion, and later, I found a body that washed out of one of the basins. It had a GPS tracker on it, which I got rid of, but I think we both know that there's something else going on down there."

"I don't know that there's anything I can do about it." Bruce said. "Shouldn't you be telling this to your superior officers instead?"

"I did. My request for an investigation is pending, but a couple of guys around the department asked me if I thought there were any giant alligators down there." Blake replied, shaking his head. "But I figured that with whatever's going on, the police might not be enough. I think we need you, and we need the Batman."

"If you think I'm the Batman, then you are seeing things that aren't there." Bruce said, turning away to look out a window.

"I don't know or care who Batman is." Blake said, more angrily than he'd meant. He stopped to calm himself down for a second before continuing. "But we've met before, when I was a kid, at the orphanage. See, my mom died when I was small. Car accident, I don't really remember it. But a couple of years later my dad was shot over a gambling debt. I remember that just fine." Blake looked at the ground for a moment, collecting his thoughts, and looked up at Bruce. "Not a lot of people know what it feels like, do they? To be angry, in your bones. People understand, foster parents understand. For a while, but then they expect the angry kid to do what he knows he can't do. To move on, to forget."

Bruce turned and looked at Blake, hearing something familiar to him.

"So, they stop understanding, and they send the angry kid to a boys' home...St. Swithin's. It used to be funded by the Wayne Foundation." Blake continued. "See, I figured it out too late. You have to hide the anger, like putting on a mask. Then you showed up one day in a cool car, with a pretty girl on your arm." The memory made Blake smile. "We were so excited, I mean, Bruce Wayne, billionaire orphan? We used to make up stories about you, legends. But when I saw you, I saw the same look I'd taught myself, and then I just saw...a man."

Bruce thought about what he was saying. He vaguely remembered visiting the boys' home, and Blake was right about how excited the boys had been.

"I knew the look, but I didn't think anything of it. It stuck with me, though." Blake went on. "So, all of a sudden, Batman turns up. Pops up around the same time that you come back to Gotham, along with a crazy amount of resources, tools, you know." Blake waved his hand dismissively. "So I think, maybe he's that billionaire who I saw as being angry at the world, just like me? That was my theory for a while, but as time went on, I saw you in public, interviews, and I figured "there's no way this guy runs around at night dressed as a bat". But I knew that Batman still had to be getting his tools from somewhere, and who would make more sense than that billionaire, who also happens to own a tech company?"

"Have you raised this theory to anyone else?" Bruce asked quietly.

"No, I figured it wasn't any of my business, as long as Batman was still on the side of Gotham." Blake answered. "I don't know exactly what happened, but even after what happened to Harvey Dent, I'm still a believer in the Batman, even if you aren't."

Bruce didn't answer, but just stood still, staring at the floor in silence. Blake nodded to himself, knowing that he wasn't going to get any more out of the one-sided conversation, and stood up to leave.

"Why did you say your boys' home _used_ to be funded by the Wayne Foundation?" Bruce asked.

"Because the money stopped." Blake answered, stopping at the door. "It might be time to get some fresh air and start paying attention to the details. Some of those details might need your help."

* * *

Bruce and Alfred watched Blake walk to his car, seeing the officer look back up at the manor again for a few seconds before driving away.

"Did you dig up anything useful from last night?" Bruce asked, as the both of them had been investigating Gordon's disappearance.

"The coroner's report mentioned a strange tattoo, which got matched to a group of militia connected to Bane." Alfred answered.

"Bane?" Bruce asked, having never heard the name before.

"I ran it through some databases." Alfred answered. "He's a mercenary, with no other known name. He's never been seen or photographed without a mask."

"I should try that." Bruce joked. "What about the pearls that Selina Kyle stole?"

"The signal on them disappeared, and I can't find a way to re-connect it. I'll keep trying, though." Alfred replied, turning to leave.

"Why did the Wayne Foundation stop funding boys' homes in the city?" Bruce asked.

"The Foundation is funded from the profits of Wayne Enterprises." Alfred shrugged. "There have to be some."

"I think it's time to talk to Mr. Fox." Bruce mused.

"I'll get him on the phone-" Alfred started.

"No." Bruce interrupted. "Do we still have any cars around?"

"One or two." Alfred answered, lighting up.

"Good. I need some fresh air. A shower and a shave, too." Bruce said. "We still have Ms. Kyle's previous location, don't we?"

"Yes, Master Wayne."

"I think I'll pay her a visit too, find out what happened to the pearls." Bruce smiled. "You were right, it is time to get back into the world."

* * *

For the first time in years, Bruce Wayne walked into Wayne Enterprises' main building. As expected, he got a lot of surprised looks and confused smiles from employees throughout the building, and even spent an awkwardly silent elevator ride with a man who was clearly a fan. Eventually, he made it up the office of the CEO, Lucius Fox, who was waiting in his usual suit and bow tie.

"Bruce Wayne. As I live and breathe." Fox greeted him with a smile, standing up from behind his desk.

Bruce nodded in greeting, thinking how it had been too long since the last time he'd seen the man, and sat in one of the chairs facing Lucius' desk.

"What brings you out of cryo-sleep Mr. Wayne?" Fox asked.

"I see you haven't lost your sense of humor...even if you have lost most of my money." Bruce replied.

"Actually, you did that yourself." Fox said. "See, if you funnel the entire R and D budget for five years into a fusion project that you then mothball, your company is unlikely to thrive."

"Even with-" Bruce started to say.

"A wildly sophisticated CEO, yes." Fox finished for him. "Wayne Enterprises is running out of time. And John Daggett is moving in."

"What're my options?" Bruce asked.

"If you're not willing to work with him, and turn your machine on-" Fox started.

"I can't, Lucius." Bruce cut him off.

"You may not have a choice." Fox suggested. "Your majority on the company is shrinking rapidly, and it can't keep Daggett away from the reactor anymore. He'll have control of it soon enough, he's been buying up shares slowly for years."

"Okay, I'll think it over." Bruce nodded, standing up.

"Anything else?" Fox asked.

"No, why?"

"These conversations always used to end with some...unusual requests." Fox pointed out, with a hopeful look.

"I retired." Bruce replied.

"Let me show you some stuff, anyway." Fox shrugged, grinning and pressing a button. On the wall beside the two, a bookcase opened, revealing a hidden elevator. "Just for old times' sake."

* * *

Moments later, Fox lead Bruce into a vast, gadget-filled basement of the Research and Development section of Wayne Enterprises. They walked by countless crates of imported resources, unfinished technology, and prototypes that would never see the light of day. They passed by a number of familiar vehicles as well, as Bruce saw a group of Tumblers with many different weapons configurations. Bruce smiled at the nostalgia of being in the basement again, as it felt like forever since Fox had supplied him with something new and unique.

"I figured you'd have shut this place down." Bruce remarked.

"It was always shut down, officially." Fox answered.

"But all this new stuff?"

"After your father died, Wayne Enterprises set up fourteen different defense subsidiaries." Fox explained. "I've spent years shuttering them and consolidating all the prototypes under one roof. My roof."

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"To keep them from falling into the wrong hands." Fox answered. "Besides, I thought someone might get some use out of them..."

Fox opened a door, and it slid upward to reveal a vehicle that Bruce had never seen before. It resembled the design of the Tumbler, but its shape was more sleek, it had rotors instead of wheels, the cockpit was located in a different part of the hull, and the cannons were protruding more outward. Bruce's eyes lit up when he saw it, and even though he was retired, he couldn't help but feel the same pang of excitement as when he had driven the Tumbler for the first time.

"Oh, now you're just showing off." He exclaimed, walking towards the large vehicle.

"Defense Department project for tight-geometry urban pacification." Fox explained proudly. "Rotors configured for maneuvering between buildings without recirculation."

"What's it called?" Bruce asked.

"It has a long and uninteresting Wayne Enterprises designation." Fox answered. "So I took to calling it the Bat. And yes, Mr. Wayne, it does come in black."

Bruce reached out and touched the Bat's sleek side, marveling at it.

"It works great, except for the autopilot." Fox added.

"What's wrong with it?" Bruce asked.

"Software-based instability. It'd take a better mind than mine to fix it." Fox answered.

"A _better_ mind?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I was trying to be modest." Fox smiled. "A less busy mind. Yours, perhaps."

Bruce looked up at the machine, wondering if maybe he could commit some time to the Bat.

* * *

Night had fallen, and Selina attached the string of blue pearls around her neck, looking at herself in the mirror. She adjusted the stylish black dress she was wearing, making sure she was presentable for the party she was going to. She would have preferred it if she could have worn the Wayne pearls, but she had forgotten to grab them off of Stryver before she escaped from the bar, as well as her money. She finished touching up her makeup, pulled on a coat, and exited the apartment, walking down the long, creaky, worn-down flight of stairs and out into the street. Her apartment was in Old Town, one of the more run-down sections of Gotham, and her thief lifestyle only got her so much money at a time, which wasn't helped by a few too many debts with unpleasant people. Luckily, a taxi was passing by soon after she walked outside, and she ducked into it.

She didn't notice Bruce watching her from his car, and that he pulled away from the curb to follow her cab.

* * *

Town car after town car dispensed the members of Gotham's high society outside of the Gotham Highland Hotel, all of them wearing masquerade masks and entering the hotel, where the party was being held. Bruce pulled up in his car while the paparazzi were distracted.

"Who's that?" One of the paparazzi asked, looking at Bruce's car as the door slid open, and a pair of legs emerged.

"Probably just another old stiff." Another paparazzi shrugged, looking through the pictures he had taken.

"No, that's Bruce Wayne!" The first paparazzi exclaimed when Bruce fully exited the car. "Hey Wayne, where've you been hiding?"

Every camera lens instantly swiveled around to face Bruce, and he was assaulted with a barrage of flashes and yells of questions about the past few years. But Bruce had expected that, and prepared accordingly, pulling out a key fob and clicking a button. An electromagnetic pulse went out around him, and the noise from the cameras cut out all at once, leaving all of the paparazzi confused and frustrated. Bruce continued up to the door of the hotel, where a woman holding the guest list stood, flanked by two bouncers.

"I'm not sure if my assistant put me on the guest list..." Bruce started to say.

"Right this way, Mr. Wayne." The greeter gestured into the hotel doors, smiling.

"Thank you." Bruce smiled back and nodded, and entered the party.

* * *

Bruce walked into the main ballroom, taking in the expressively attired dancers slowly moving under the falling confetti. Even he was impressed by the ostentation, and there was a small part of him that had missed the sight and the environment of opulent parties such as these. He made his way up to the balcony, sweeping his eyes across the dance floor until he found Selina, who was now sporting a mask and a small pair of cat ears, and was dancing with a man that Bruce didn't recognize.

"Bruce Wayne at a charity ball?" A surprised voice asked.

Bruce turned to see John Daggett walking up to him, pulling away a small mask from his face.

"Mr. Daggett." Bruce smiled, reaching out to shake his hand. "It's good to see you again."

"I know it's been a while, but please, call me John." Daggett nodded. "I mean, even before you became a recluse, you never came to these parties."

"True. After all, proceeds go to the big fat spread, not the cause." Bruce joked, gesturing around the room. "It's not about charity, it's about feeding the ego of whichever society hag set it up."

"Actually, this is my party, Bruce." Daggett said with a small smile.

"Oh."

"And the proceeds will go where they should, because I paid for the big fat spread myself." Daggett added.

"That's, um...that's very generous of you." Bruce said awkwardly.

"You have to invest if you want to help change the world." Daggett shrugged. "Take our clean-energy project, for example..."

"Sometimes the investment doesn't pay off." Bruce replied. "I'm sorry."

Daggett chuckled. "You've practiced your apathy, Mr. Wayne. But a man who doesn't care about the world doesn't spend half his fortune on a plan to save it..." Daggett held the mask back up to his face. "...and isn't so wounded when it fails that he goes into hiding..."

Bruce gave Daggett a confused look, trying to mask his intrigue. He might keep a closer eye on John Daggett in the future.

"Have a good evening, Bruce." Daggett said, turning and walking away.

Bruce nodded, looking down at Selina again, and descended down to the ground level. He made his way through the crowd to Selina and her date, smiling warmly at them when he reached them.

"Mind if I cut in?" Bruce asked.

The man Selina was dancing with turned around, annoyed, but still let go of her, letting Bruce take his place, and Bruce danced Selina away from him. As soon as his hand was on her waist, Selina glared at him, but stayed with the dance.

"You don't seem very happy to see me." Bruce remarked with a grin.

"You were supposed to be a shut-in." Selina said, annoyed.

"I felt like some fresh air." Bruce shrugged.

"Why didn't you call the police?" Selina asked.

"I have a powerful friend who deals with this kind of thing." Bruce answered, admiring her cat ears. "Brazen costume for a cat burglar."

"Yeah? Who are you pretending to be?" Selina asked.

"Bruce Wayne, eccentric billionaire." Bruce smiled, looking back at the man he'd left behind. "Who's your date?"

"His wife's in Ibiza." Selina answered. "She left her diamonds behind, though. She was worried that they'd get stolen."

"It's pronounced 'Ibeetha'." Bruce corrected. "You wouldn't want these folks realizing you're a crook, and not a social climber."

"You think I care what anyone in this room thinks about me?" Selina asked, in a flash of anger.

"I doubt you care what anyone in any room thinks about you." Bruce replied.

"Don't condescend, Mr. Wayne. You don't know a thing about me." Selina rolled her eyes.

"Well, Selina Kyle, I know you came here from your walk-up in Old Town, which is a bit of a modest place for a master jewel thief." Bruce said, earning a surprised and nervous look from Selina. "Which means either you're saving for your retirement, or you're in deep with the wrong people."

"You don't get to judge me because you were born in the master bedroom of Wayne Manor." Selina shot back.

"Actually, I was born in the Regency Room." Bruce corrected.

"I started off doing what I had to." Selina said. "I was very good, and people didn't see me coming, so I kept getting jobs, and I didn't see that I was being used. And once I did what I had to, it wasn't convenient for them to let me do what I wanted to. And they don't want to let me go, because I know too much. I know that the kind, rich, philanthropists of Gotham are just as petty as the rest of us."

"Why not just leave and start fresh?" Bruce asked.

"There's no fresh start in today's world. Any twelve-year-old with a cell phone could find out what you did." Selina replied drily. "Everything we do is collated and quantified, and everything sticks. We are the sum of our mistakes."

"Or our achievements."

"The mistakes stick better. Trust me."

"You think that justifies stealing?"

"I take what I need to from those who have more than enough." Selina answered. "I don't stand on the shoulders of people with less."

"Very Robin Hood of you."

"I'd do more to help someone than most of the people in this room." Selina retorted. "More than you."

"Maybe you're assuming too much." Bruce shrugged.

"Or maybe you're being unrealistic about what's really in your pants other than your wallet." Selina suggested.

"Ouch."

"You think all this can last?" Selina asked.

Bruce glanced around at the sumptuous party, not understanding what she meant.

"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne." Selina leaned in to whisper in his ear. "You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."

"Sounds like you're looking forward to it." Bruce noted.

"I'm adaptable." Selina replied.

"These pearls look nice on you." Bruce said, reaching up to touch the string of pearls around her neck. "I prefer my mother's, though. Where are they?"

"I don't know." Selina shrugged. "Some people asked me to steal it for them, and I did. I don't know or care what they did with them. What's the matter, having problems with the tracker?"

Bruce was surprised. "Yes, I am. But the police aren't going to have any problems finding your place, once I give them the address."

Selina glared at him, not knowing what to say, knowing that she'd backed herself into a corner. "I'll look into it." She said, before she leaned up and kissed him hard, and backed up, disappearing into the crowd.

"You scared her off!" The annoyed man that she had been dancing with before exclaimed, pushing past Bruce after her.

"Not likely." Bruce said to himself. He just hoped that Selina hadn't noticed the tracker that he'd placed on her.

* * *

Bruce exited the party soon after, approaching the valet and patting down his pockets, confused that he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"I must have lost my ticket..." He explained.

"Your wife said you were taking a cab home, sir." The valet replied.

"My wife?"

* * *

Selina permitted herself a little smile as she gunned the engine of the stolen Lamborghini, racing down the street.

* * *

Alfred watched in the rear-view mirror as Bruce climbed into the back of the Rolls-Royce, sitting down with an exasperated sigh.

"Just you, sir?" Alfred asked.

Wayne gave him a withering look as a reply.

"Don't worry, Master Wayne." Alfred said with a grin, driving the car away from the hotel. "Takes a little time to get back into the swing of things."

Bruce nodded, pulling out his phone and dialing a number.

" _This is Fox."_ He heard after a few seconds.

"Remember those 'unusual requests' I used to make?" Bruce asked.

" _I knew it!"_

Up in the front seat, Alfred listened to the conversation. He was suddenly very concerned.

* * *

The next morning, Bruce headed down to the Batcave as soon as he woke up. Alfred knew this time that he would be down there, and so headed down right after him, finding Bruce in the middle of a series of exercises. When he crossed the bridge onto the slate where Bruce was currently doing push-ups, Bruce started to falter, shaking slightly. Alfred watched as the shaking increased over the next few push-ups, until Bruce faltered and collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.

"You used to be able to do more of those." Alfred remarked, standing over Bruce.

"You're welcome to try it, Alfred." Bruce replied, pulling himself up to his feet.

"Happy watching, thank you, sir." Alfred said with a smile.

Bruce walked away from Alfred, pressing a button on a console near the edge of the platform. A large slate cube started to rise out of the water in front of him, along with a bridge connecting to it. Bruce walked across the bridge, and a section of the cube started to rise upwards.

"Master Wayne, if you're seriously considering going back out there, you need to hear some rumors surrounding Bane." Alfred said, following Bruce.

"I'm all ears." Bruce replied, as the glass case that had risen from the cube opened, revealing the Batman armour that he stored inside of it, surrounded by a series of Batarangs, various calibers of bullets, as well as anything else he kept on the suit's belt.

"There is a prison in a more ancient part of the world. It's located on a remote island called Santa Prisca." Alfred explained, relaying all of the information he had managed to find. "It's been compared to a pit where men are thrown to suffer and die. But sometimes, a man rises from that darkness. Sometimes...the pit sends something back."

"Bane?" Bruce asked.

"Born and raised in hell on earth." Alfred nodded.

"Born in a prison?"

"No one knows why." Alfred shrugged. "Or how he escaped. But they know who trained him once he did...Ra's al Ghul, your mentor. He plucked Bane from a dark corner of the earth and trained him in the blackest disciplines of combat, deception and endurance. Just like you."

"Bane was a member of the League of Shadows." Bruce said, taking the information in. He was shocked, as the League was something he had hoped to never encounter again.

"Until he was excommunicated." Alfred continued. "And a man considered too extreme for Ra's al Ghul is not to be trifled with."

"I didn't realize I was known for trifling with criminals." Bruce said, slightly smiling.

"That was then." Alfred went on. "You can put the mask back on, but it won't make you what you were."

"Which was?" Bruce asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Someone whose anger at death made him value all life. Even his own." Alfred answered.

"If this man is everything you say he is, then this city needs me." Bruce said. "Because I value the lives of everyone in it."

"This city needs Bruce Wayne." Alfred replied. "Your resources, your knowledge...not your body. Not your life. That time has passed."

"I tried helping as Bruce Wayne, Alfred. And I failed." Bruce said angrily. "And that's what you're afraid of, isn't it? That if I go back out there, I'll fail again."

"No." Alfred shook his head. "I'm afraid that you want to."

Alfred turned away from Bruce, and walked away along the slate cubes towards the elevator. Bruce watched him until he disappeared from view, and then turned back to the Batsuit. No matter what Alfred said, Gotham City needed Batman.

And he was ready to come back.


	4. Finale

**Hello, everyone! So, this isn't going to be the chapter 4 you would be expecting, it's an announcement. I'm not going to be continuing this story, for a number of reasons. First of all, these "My Versions" take a lot of time to do, I have to watch the movies again and again, pretty much frame by frame to get the details and the dialogue right, and I'm really not having fun writing it. I had fun with Amazing Spider-Man 2, I had fun with Star Trek Into Darkness, but I'm just not enjoying this. I also want to focus on more original stuff, because I've come up with some ideas that I really want to write lately, and I don't want to feel obligated to do this first because people are expecting a new chapter sometime. Finally, and most simply, I just have a lot of stuff that I have to do, and this is kind of unnecessary to me.**

 **But, I'm not abandoning this idea entirely. Instead of writing it all out, I'm going to be turning the outline for this story, as well as my story for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, into a series of videos on YouTube. I just feel that it'll be simpler, and I can add a bit more personality by explaining my changes as I make them.**

 **However, if you don't feel like waiting a while for these videos, I will tell you how the rest of the story will go right now:**

So, at the beginning of Chapter 4, we have the stock exchange setpiece. This scene will play out pretty much the same, except Bane and his men aren't there to mess up the Wayne stocks, because it always bothered me that those changes would be allowed to stand after Bane's illegal takeover, where several people saw him running a program, and so on. Basically, they're just trying to bait out Batman, so Bane can see if he's still worth fighting. What I'm doing with Bane in this story is making him closer to the comics, because while I like how the trilogy came full circle, I didn't think they needed to do the League of Shadows again, because they weren't even mentioned in The Dark Knight. So in my version, Bane is just a mercenary, who has a militia army, and is fighting Batman out of revenge for Ra's but also to prove himself the best. So Bane and his men wait around inside the stock exchange until they have to leave to avoid certain capture. So the motorcycle chase sequence happens verbatim, except for Batman picking up the tablet (because that tablet doesn't exist), and Batman escapes with the Bat. So now we're at Daggett's house, and it's supposed to be a reveal that Daggett is working with Bane, because there's no Miranda Tate, I kind of combined those two. So you're supposed to initially see Daggett as just a businessman, but then you see him with Stryver, and you see Selina in his house, and then you see Bane show up there. So Selina grabs him after cracking the empty safe, and in my version, she was just promised enough money to get away from Gotham, instead of the computer program that can erase you from the Internet, which is just dumb, and it makes Selina look dumb for believing it could exist. So then Batman shows up, the rooftop fight/escape happens (Batman says "No killing" instead of "No guns, no killing", because that makes him a bit of a hypocrite. When Batman and Selina have their rooftop conversation, Selina explains that they promised her the money, but she never got it, and she doesn't know what they want with the pearls. And when she leaves, Batman says "That's what that feels like" in his normal voice. So Batman returns to the Batcave, and gets into his argument with Alfred, but Alfred doesn't suggest that Bane has any further affiliation with the League (because he doesn't). Alfred also doesn't leave, he can still make that great speech, but he stays around.

Chapter 5 begins the next morning, where Lucius arrives at Wayne Manor and tells Bruce that Wayne Enterprises has slipped beyond the point where they could manage on their own, and now Daggett is taking over, and that he'll have control of the nuclear fusion project again. Lucius reminds Bruce of the story of Dr. Pavel when Bruce is concerned about the project, and Bruce wants to keep the potential out of anyone's hands. Lucius hands Bruce a picture of the reactor room to establish it for the audience, and Bruce reminds Lucius that it can be flooded whenever they want. So then there's the Wayne Enterprises boardroom scene, where it's confirmed that Daggett will take over the company, and Bruce is kicked off the board. Bruce leaves the building, seeing his car being towed, and gets into Blake's car. We then have the scene where Daggett meets up with Bane, but this time he's celebrating his victory, as well as congratulating Bane on drawing out the Batman and "giving the police a good chase". Bane replies with "You don't truly understand", and Daggett gives him the file on the energy project. Bane then kills Daggett. In the scene with Blake and Bruce in Blake's police car, Blake asks him questions about why Batman did what he did, and Bruce asks Blake if the police have heard anything about Gordon, to which the answer is no. Blake drops him off at Selina's apartment, and in the scene between Bruce and Selina, we get more of Selina's backstory, because that was desperately needed in the original. I'm not sure exactly what the story would be, but there could be some sort of crime/mob/thievery backstories that are interesting.

In Chapter 6, the scene of Blake and Gordon in the hospital is replaced with a scene of a recording of Gordon reading his speech about Harvey Dent being released by Bane. Blake comes into the police station to report Daggett's death and the construction permits while Foley and the rest of the GCPD are watching the video and learning the truth about everything they'd done, and how it was all built on a lie. Foley and Blake get on better terms here, and Blake starts working directly for Foley, and finally gets his investigation. Next, obviously, there's no Bruce and Miranda Tate love scene (because she doesn't exist), but instead, Bruce was getting ready to go out and search for more leads, but the Gordon video appeared. He and Alfred are watching it in the Bat-Cave. When the video finishes, Bruce sees that the pearl's tracker has re-activated, and that it's coming from Wayne Manor, upstairs. Bruce puts on his cowl, comes up from the Batcave, and finds Bane waiting for him in the living room. Bane taunts him with the pearls, and crushes them in his hand (we can assume that he knew about the pearls from sources he planted inside Wayne Manor, and stole them to mess with Bruce). Bane soliloquies for a bit about why he's there, what he wants, (he knows who Bruce is from returning to the League of Shadows and (referencing) Talia telling him about Bruce, and what happened with Ra's) and clicks a switch on his vest, starting to breathe in a steroid formula, which is basically the "Nolan-ized" Venom. Bane and Bruce begin to fight, with Bane dominating, throwing Bruce around the room. Alfred comes up from the Batcave, and Bruce tells him to get out. Alfred manages to escape, and Batman distracts Bane momentarily, getting into the elevator. But when it starts to descend, Bane jumps on top of it, and they both ride down into the Batcave. The fight continues down there, but Bruce is getting tired at this point, and Bane is beating him even worse, against the Batcomputer, rocks, breaking the cowl, etc. (and we can fit in Bane's "born in the dark" speech when Bruce EMPs the Batcave.) In the end, Bane breaks Batman's back and leaves. And in a new scene, Alfred returns to the Batcave with a medical crew. Bruce tells him that it's dangerous to stay, and Alfred tells him that they're leaving Gotham.

Chapter 7 begins with the scene of Selina in the airport, which plays out verbatim. In the original, what would follow would be the first pit scene, but the pi isn't a part of my version. Instead, we see Alfred and Bruce are on a plane to Santa Prisca. Bruce is hooked up to medical equipment, and the two have a conversation about Bruce being beaten. Bruce feels defeated, and is pretty mentally screwed from the experience, and Alfred gives an ominous warning about what could be happening in Gotham. We'd then see Selina in Blackgate, and the members of the Wayne Enterprises being kidnapped by Bane. Instead of the hospital scene afterward, Blake comes into police headquarters to tell Foley about Bane kidnapping the Wayne Enterprises board members. Blake tells Foley that they sent another team into the sewers, and they hadn't reported back. Foley being angry about Gordon and the missing police causes him to approve all of the police being sent down into the sewers, instead of Gordon's most likely painkillered ramblings. Instead of the seond pit scene, we see Alfred and Bruce arrive on Santa Prisca, where they meet Dr. Shondra. Bruce gets set up with proper medical equipment now, and Alfred tells Bruce that he'd set this up a while ago in case Bruce ever suffered an extreme injury (like he just did), and Alfred turns on the TV to check on Gotham.

Chapter 8 opens with Lucius and the board members being led into the sewers, where Dr. Pavel begins turning the reactor into a bomb. But it's not going to take about 3 seconds, it'll take him an hour at least, we can cut to something else, and cut back and have Bane mention it's been an hour. Pavel warns them that the slightest adjustment to the core could destabilize it, and it will begin to deteriorate. Bane then removes the reactor, and everyone moves out. The scene where Blake interrogates the construction men is verbatim, and he informs Foley about the explosives, just as the police are loading into the sewers. We then go to the football stadium, where the singing and bombing scenes happen verbatim, killing the mayor, destroying the field, and trapping the police underground. The only change to this sequence is that Blake doesn't go to the hospital and rescue Gordon, because Gordon's still captured by Bane. So Bane gives his speech, kills Pavel, and we see the military watching Gotham, and the bridge exchange scene verbatim. During the President's speech, Alfred and Bruce watch from Santa Prisca, and Blake and Foley drive off together to regroup.

Chapter 9 begins with the Blackgate breakout scene. Blake and Foley are making a plan in Foley's house with the few police officers left during Bane's speech. Gordon watches in the sewer on a TV, devastated as everything he'd worked for crumbled. After this, I'd add the scene of Gordon rolling into the water and escaping from the sewer here, except he isn't shot. He gets into the street and someone recognizes him, he gets their phone, he calls Foley, and they agree on a place to meet up. After this, we see the poor overthrowing the rich scene verbatim. The third pit scene would be replaced by Santa Prisca, where Bruce is starting to try to move on his own, with little success. Bruce complains about how Bane beat him and broke him, and Alfred leaves because Bruce doesn't want him to see him like that. Shondra tries to comfort him by telling him about Bane's backstory, and revealing that she created the steroid formula that he uses to be stronger. She moves him to a different machine, he groans and yells as he moves, until he's hooked up in a standing position. Shondra tells him that right now, strength is what he needs, and injects him with some of the serum. Bruce passes out and has a nightmare about Ra's Al Ghul, but the dialogue is different from the original. When Bruce wakes up, Shondra tells him that he's been passed out for three weeks, and his spine has now been set properly. Bruce begins to walk, and refuses help.

Chapter 10 opens with the scenes of Selina and Blake verbatim, giving us more information about their characters. The fourth pit scene is replaced by a scene where Bruce starts exercising, one hundred push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups per day, Alfred warms him not to strain himself, but Bruce just keeps going. He's started to jog and climb up rock faces, but slips, and doesn't have all of his energy back yet. Back at Gotham, there's the bridge supply / police infiltration scene, which plays out the same, except without Miranda Tate. The fifth pit scene is replacd with Bruce seeing the police officers hanged, and throws a chair at the TV. Later, he's climbing a mountain, talking to Alfred through an earpiece about being angry, a rock breaks, he falls and hangs from the rope, and there's a flashback to Batman Begins. Bruce has a conversation with Shondra about fearing death, then Bruce climbs up the mountain without any equipment at sunset, and finally succeeds, and smiles, seeing a cave, he walks into it, and bats swarm around him, he closes his eyes, accepting his fear (as a parallel to Batman Begins).

Chapter 11 begins with the courtroom scene, and Stryver's exile, which plays out verbatim. There's no scene where Foley abandons everyone, instead we have a scene of Bruce saying goodbye to Shondra, and getting into a plane, flown by Alfred. The plane flies over Gotham, and Bruce jumps out, gliding like in The Dark Knight, and landing inside the top floor of a building. He starts to move down towards the streets to get to Wayne Manor and the Batcave. We then have the scene where Selina saves the kid from the thug, and Bruce finds her because she happens to be outside the building he lands in, instead of just appearing out of thin air. Bruce promises her that he'll help her get away if she helps him, and Bruce reveals to her that he's Batman when she asks about his powerful friend. After that, Gordon and the police are captured by Bane's soldiers, but because Foley sold them out to protect his family. We then see Gordon and the police in the Scarecrow court, and they're just sentenced to death, not "Death...by exile", and they're lead away.

Chapter 12 would begin with the scene between Blake and his partner verbatim. Bruce then infiltrates the courtroom, and Bruce and Lucius escape with the help of Selina verbatim to the original, except without Miranda Tate. The scene between Bruce and Lucius in the Batman cavern from The Dark Knight is verbatim, along with them going to retrieve the Bat. The police are then lead out to the river, and put on their knees to be shot. Before they're executed, Batarangs fly in from one side and take them out. There's obviously no mention of Miranda Tate here, and Instead of the big fire Batman logo on the bridge, Batman says they'll stay quiet for tonight, wait in the shadows, and wait for the morning. For war. We then see Blake's failed rescue attempt of his partner, and then is rescued by Batman. When Blake throws the bomb to free the police, Blake's counting is correct in my version. It should also be noted that the police are ragged and tired, but the promise of freedom seemed to be re-energizing them.

Chapter 13 opens with the conversation between Batman and Catwoman near the Batpod, which is verbatim from the original. The only difference is that Batman is just speaking in his Bruce Wayne voice now, because everyone knows who he is, so there's no real point, and it seems goofy. We then go to the morning, where the police line up against the mercenaries. When Batman flies over, he destroys all of the Tumblers' weapons instead of just one. A large group of Gotham citizens come out to help the police as well, so many more police die in the initial charge, but the two sides are even in numbers. Intercut with that is the boys home evacuation scene, which plays out verbatim. At this point in the fight, Batman and Bane meet up in the middle of the fight. I'd want to make the moves quicker and more powerful, because the fighting in the Dark Knight Trilogy is really generically choreographed. Bane's fighting with everything he has, and Batman's being reserved at first, only really attacking when he has an opening. Bane's stronger because of the serum, but Batman eventually manages to sever the wires connecting the mask to where it's stored in his vest with Batarangs, and then manages to overpower him, beating him down until he's unconscious, standing over him and saying "Now you have my permission to die". Bane tells him at some point during the fight that there's no detonator. Catwoman rides in, and says she was surprised that she didn't kill him. Batman says that he didn't because he didn't have to, and he never has to. Then they both go out after the bomb. Gordon climbs onto the correct truck verbatim to the original, and the Blake on the bridge scenes play out exactly the same. The truck with Gordon is still on the move, and the driver calls to the remaining Tumblers who had been patrolling for support, and they arrive and surround it. And I'd add a scene here where Bane wakes up, and a large group of police and citizens are coming into the courthouse, all holding weapons. He pleads with them, saying that he gave them their freedom, but none of them respond, they just advance on him, implying that they kill him.

Chapter 14 picks up with Catwoman on the Bat-pod and Batman inside the Bat chasing after the bomb truck. They're in communication through earpieces, as well as with Lucius, who's on his way to the reactor room to make it ready for returning the bomb. Batman fires at one of the Tumblers, crashing it, and Catwoman takes out another one with the Batpod before it can destroy the Bat. The third fires its missiles, and the missile chase through the buildings happens, while Catwoman takes out the third Tumbler. Batman evades all of the missiles and takes out the last Tumbler with the last one. Batman comes back around and shoots the truck, accidentally killing the driver and sending it flying over the edge of the street levels. Lucius arrives at the reactor site and finds that it's been flooded, and so he leaves, telling Batman, and Batman realizes that Bane got the information to do that from Daggett. Batman then gets the idea to fly the bomb over the bay, and gets ready to. Gordon crawls out of the back of the truck, severely injured, figures out that he's Bruce Wayne, and then Bruce says the "coat around the shoulders" line, and tells Selina to get him to a hospital. Batman hooks up the bomb to the Bat and flies over the bay, and the bomb explodes. Most importantly...HE'S DEAD.

Chapter 15 is the epilogue, where we see the aftermath scenes from the end of the original play out verbatim. Bruce's funeral scene is also verbatim. I've made several changes to the ending scenes, there's no autopilot scene, when Alfred looks up, he doesn't see Bruce, it just cuts away. The last scene is dialogue taken from the end of the funeral, it's Gordon and Blake on the Major Crimes roof with the new Bat-signal, Gordon greets him as "Lieutenant", and they talk about some other things, possibly the new mayor or something. Blake asks if it bothers Grdon that nobody will ever know who saved Gotham, Gordon replies with "They know..."

"...he was the Batman".

And so, like the last two Nolan films, we end The Dark Knight trilogy with a badass line.

 **And, that's my version of The Dark Knight Rises. Hopefully you like what I changed and some of my ideas, and I will be turning this story into a video sometime in the future. I don't know when, or how you'll find it, but if you're curious, PM me or something. Thanks for reading, hopefully you enjoyed, and I'll see you all around.**


End file.
